Fig. 6: Gamma-distributed exploration durations.

a Mean work W₂ as a function of resetting duration τ. Here the exploration durations t₁ are drawn from a Gamma distribution f(t₁) with different shape parameter r〈t₁〉. The value of r, ζ² as well as the sub-mean probability mass \({{\mathbb{P}}}_{ < }\) is reported. The dashed line shows the bound when r → ∞ (small fluctuations around mean), and the dot-dashed line r → 0 (small fluctuations around zero). b Corresponding probability density f(t₁) for durations of the exploration phase. Vertical grey dashed-dotted line marks t₁ = 〈t₁〉. Parameters are set to t_U = 4, t_V = 0.5 and 〈t₁〉 = 1.